Broken
by lololoco4you
Summary: AU. But life isn't a Disney movie; reality has no happy endings. At least, not for her.


**Broken **(1,010 words)

She was so excited. She had stopped by the café and met one of his coworkers who had been on the trip with him. That meant he should be home by now. He wouldn't be expecting her home so early either, but she wanted to surprise him anyways. She sprinted up the five flights of stairs, pausing at the last step to catch her breath before making her way over to their door. Taking a deep breath, she opened the door. Stepping inside, she allowed her eyes to adjust to the semi-darkness of their apartment. And then she heard a moan, a woman's voice, breathily whispering his name. '_What?_' she thought to herself. Cautiously she walked into their bedroom. Her heart stopped.

He was on top of another woman in their bed. They were both naked and clearly enjoying themselves; they probably didn't even hear her come in. She couldn't breathe. Her chest seized up, like something had grabbed her heart and lungs and were squeezing them, hard. She felt numb. All she could say was his name. Her voice was barely above a whisper. Somehow, he heard her. His head whipped around, eyes wide. "Shit," he swallowed, "I can explain…" He hurriedly got off the other woman and began to dress, starting with his boxers, then his slacks.

She almost didn't hear him. Her vision went blurry as tears threatened to spill. She turned and ran, not wanting him _or_ that woman to see her cry. But as she turned, he caught a glimpse; he had never seen her cry before. He rushed, hastily buttoning his shirt, and ran after her. She made it down three flights of stairs before he caught her. She struggled to get out of his grip. His arms wrapped around her locking her arms to her sides.

"Let me go!" Her tears spilled angrily onto her cheeks. He had never seen her cry before. She wasn't the type to cry prettily; yet, she looked ethereal under the soft light coming from the window. The tears rolled down in a never-ending cascade of silver. "No, please, let me explain. Please." He begged. He never begged.

Even as she nodded, the tears didn't stop. They kept falling. As he explained, none of his reasons made sense to her. Her tears fell faster. Her heart pounded and stopped once more. She collapsed, unable to take the pain any longer. Her head bowed, her shoulders shaking, her tears still falling. His heart broke. Most of the time, he knew when she cried; he just never took it upon himself to see what was wrong. Now he knew. Those silent tears she cried were all because of him. And yet, he was frozen. Somehow he couldn't reach down to hold her, to tell her everything was his fault and that he was sorry, that everything would be okay. Perhaps, he subconsciously realized that nothing would ever go back to the way they used to be; nothing would ever be the same again.

But when he looked down at her small, shaking form, he had never seen her so vulnerable. Her shoulders, usually strong and proud seemed so small and thin. Her whole frame shook as the tears kept coming. He never noticed the way her hair was straight but wavy near the ends. He had never noticed the way her strong profile looked so soft or delicate. He'd never seen the way her skin shone in soft light, and even though it wasn't very pale or intensely tan like other girls, it glowed like a goddess's skin.

Had she always been so thin and small? In his mind's eye, she was strong and cheerful, but, then again, he'd never seen her cry; she had never let him. He realized it now. She kept up a happy façade, but inside, she hid all her pain and weaknesses. And what he had done was the final crack in the wall. Her wall had broken down and she couldn't contain any of her pain for any longer. She was broken.

The only thing that ran through her mind was 'He doesn't love me anymore…' She was strong and tough on the outside, but on the inside she hid all her pain. She hid everything in her heart, building a wall so that no one would ever see her faults. No one would ever discover how weak she was, how much pain she felt. But this, this just broke the wall she had put up. She thought he loved her. He was the only one who cared. At work, her coworkers were friendly with her on a need-to work with basis. Her friends were long gone; even if they _did_ care about her, they always had someone else to lean on, someone else to be with. She thought she had finally found her one and only. But life doesn't work that way. She thought she had finally gotten her happy ending. But life isn't a Disney movie; reality has no happy endings, at least, not for her.

She had been to all of her friends' weddings, watched their faces light up in love and joy as they married their one love, seen their loves blossom into happiness. And that's all she had wanted, ever since she was a little girl. But even now, she was that little girl, the one, broken and lonely, locked up in her dark bedroom, crying silent tears, trying not to let anyone see or hear. Then, she was broken, but she always thought she could be fixed. Even now, she was the little girl that put on masks of happiness to hide the pain she felt inside. But now, everything was broken. She cried and cried, all her pain pouring out. This one betrayal had completely broken what was left of her.

She could no longer be fixed.


End file.
